3% Withholding Repeal and Job Creation Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I thank the Senator from Arizona for his remarks, and certainly for me, at least, he owes no apology for having spoken his mind. I always welcome the opportunity to listen, and I have done so, and am honored to follow him.

AMENDMENT NO. 927

Today I speak as we approach Veterans Day, and I believe this Veterans Day may be particularly significant for our Nation in part because we have the opportunity in this Chamber to honor some very special veterans, the Montford Point marines, who graced us with their presence yesterday as we celebrated the 236th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps. They were present then. They were present in 1942, when they stepped forward to serve and fight for this Nation. They are African Americans who fought and served for this Nation at a time when they anticipated no recognition and certainly no honor, and we have the opportunity between now and Veterans Day to approve a measure that would grant them the Congressional Gold Medal, which they richly deserve and they have earned through their service. They are the epitome of the Marines--they happen to be marines--and of the service men and women whom we honor on this Veterans Day. They happen to be men of the ``greatest generation,'' the World War II generation. They are among the greatest of that generation.

I had the great honor to be with them yesterday, in fact to be the honored guest in the Russell Building when the commandant and I had the privilege to honor them. Their

presence yesterday reminds us of our continuing obligation to all veterans and of the need to make the well-being of our veterans a priority, as I have sought to do.

Indeed, my first bill, entitled Honoring All Veterans, has as its objective to leave no veteran behind. It offers a comprehensive set of measures to assure that we keep faith with every veteran, every veteran who needs a job, every veteran who needs better health care or counseling or training or education. These commitments we have made as a nation to all of our veterans and now we have the opportunity to keep those promises and keep faith with them, as we have a solemn obligation to do every day, every year, not just Veterans Day.

I want to thank Senator Harkin of Iowa for cosponsoring the legislation I have offered, and also to thank Senator Tester, Chairman Murray of the Veterans Committee, and Ranking Member Burr of that committee for their work to address these challenges recognized by the Honoring All Veterans Act and this comprehensive measure, VOW to Hire Heroes amendment. Truly, we should vow to hire our heroes, and we should do so not just in words but in deed, not just in rhetoric but in action, and I am proud to be a cosponsor of the important tax credit provision in the Tester veterans jobs amendment for businesses that hire veterans.

Helping veterans is a challenge that will require the engagement of everyone in the community, from Congress to veterans service organizations and business leaders across the board, across the country, across the State of Connecticut.

At a recent veterans hiring forum I hosted in Connecticut, I heard firsthand the challenges in veterans recruitment, and what innovative companies such as United Reynolds were doing to hire skilled and talented veterans in this symposium in that setting. They provided an example of what we can and should do.

I see my cosponsorship of this amendment as honoring a commitment to push for legislation to provide incentives to firms to hire unemployed veterans, and to make it easier for companies to connect with veterans so they can fill some of the jobs that are now available. There are jobs available, and we should give our veterans the skills they need, skills they may have acquired in part during their service that need to be honed and expanded, and we have that opportunity. I want to thank all of those Senators for championing this measure.

My own legislation, Honoring All Veterans Act, allows a veteran to take the Transition Assistance Program, known as TAP, an interagency workshop coordinated by the Departments of Defense, Labor, and Veterans Affairs for up to 1 year after separation at any military facility. The bill before us makes participation in the program mandatory. Low participation rates in this program are especially concerning, as junior members tend to be those most in need of the services provided by TAP, and the benefits available through the VA for many skills such as simple skills, writing resumes or interviewing have never been needed or learned before. Not having such skills, not knowing how to interview or write a resume puts them at a severe disadvantage when they are attempting to enter and succeed in the workplace after they exchange their military uniform for civilian clothes.

Section 222 of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act authorizes an assessment of the equivalence between skills developed in military occupational specialties and qualifications required for civilian employment with the private sector.

I like to say that when you call out the National Guard, you call out the best in America. When you call out the Connecticut National Guard, you call out truly the very best in America. The military recruits the most talented men and women in America to serve, and then invests heavily in those skills and their professional development. Yet when they enter the civilian world, very often those skills are simply unrecognized by laws requiring separate training or licensure, and we ought to do more to recognize the expertise and experience the military gives to these brave men and women. That is why I authored a similar provision in the Honoring All Veterans Act to ensure that civilian employers and educational institutions recognize a veteran's military training.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America reported--and I am quoting--61 percent of employers do not believe they have a complete understanding of the qualifications ex-servicemembers offer. And, recently separated servicemembers with college degrees earn on average almost $10,000 less than their nonveteran counterparts.

I applaud my colleagues for including section 222 in the VOW to Hire Heroes Act. It is a vital step toward helping employers find the employees they need and toward closing the income gap that exists now.

The legislation before us also expands education and training opportunities for older veterans by providing 100,000 unemployed veterans of past eras and wars with up to 1 year of additional GI benefits to go toward education and training programs at community colleges and technical schools. I am proud of the bipartisan compromise to extend this period for 1 year. I hoped it would be even further broadened and extended, but this measure is a great first start toward providing skills for job opportunities that now exist and can be filled by men and women coming out of our military to civilian life.

Let me say, to come back to the Montford Point marines, I want to thank Senator Pat Roberts who was with me yesterday at the 236th birthday celebration, and most especially I thank the Senator from North Carolina, Kay Hagan, who is with us today, for her leadership on this issue. Truly, we can make this Veterans Day special for all of us in this Nation if we approve this Congressional Gold Medal to men who stepped forward to serve and fight when this Nation failed to appreciate their service and valor. Now we have the opportunity to make good on our commitments to them as veterans--to all of our veterans--in this measure. I am proud to join colleagues on both sides of the aisle in nearing now the number that is necessary to approve that measure, and I hope we can reach that kind of bipartisan consensus on that legislation, but also on the broader VOW to Hire Heroes Act, that can lead us back to the kind of bipartisan approach on so many issues that we need to emulate in this body.

I thank my colleagues for supporting this measure, and I yield the floor.

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